Sea Wing

Gustav Horn had the Lake Wing built in 1650 for his family, and it is the oldest standing building on the palace grounds. Later on, Torsten Kreuger connected the wing with the palace via an underground tunnel, for the ladies' convenience. And for sneaking around.

Torsten Kreuger often received female guests and, being the ever-so sweet and considerate host that he was, he didn’t want the ladies to get their hair wet on drizzly days. Therefore, he built this underground path, which directly connects Sjöflygeln with the palace. Then again, there are some who might suggest Mr Kreuger secretly used the path himself to pay sneaky visits to his lady friends.

The duke and field marshal Gustav Horn, who took over Häringe at a time when the palace was in a terrible state, erected Sjöflygeln for his family to stay in when they visited Sweden. A visiting archaeologist suggested that an underground path could have already been in place when Gustav was in charge since secret paths were more or less a common custom back then. But no proof has been found to support this hypothesis. Nor has proof been found to confirm a sealed ballroom, rumoured to be located underneath the main stairs. Test drills were made to uncover the truth, but they were cancelled due to the risk of damaging supporting walls. Secret ballroom or not, one thing remains certain: the mystique around Häringe lives on.

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor's double room is right next to Greta Garbo's and has a dazzling sea view. The extravagant, original interiors will catapult you right back to the 1930's. There's a little lavoir in the room and a proper bathroom right below the spiral staircase.

Marguerite Wenner-Gren was originally from Texas and through here sister, the celebrated silent movie star Gene Gauntier, she was acquainted with many of the biggest English-speaking celebrities of the time. The Wenner-Grens, for example, had dinner with Charlie Chaplin and spent a lot of time with the scandal-ridden Edward, Prince of Wales, and Mrs Wallis Simpson.

Marguerite, who wanted people to notice all of her elegant friends, often threw spectacular parties. On one occasion a young Elizabeth Taylor was invited for lunch at the couple’s apartment on Laboratoriegatan in Stockholm. Ms Taylor, who was accustomed to people waiting for her, was an hour and a half late. When Liz finally showed up and sat down with her hostess, Marguerite told her about their magnificent palace outside the city. Elizabeth announced that she thought it sounded incredibly nice and suggested the lunch continue at Häringe. Who dares to say no to a movie star? The food was wrapped and the entire lunch party was stowed into all available cars (Taylor rode on her own). Naturally, the lunch ran late and Elizabeth stayed the night in this very room.

This was not the first time cinematic visitors were received at thepalace. Even before the palace was in the Wenner-Grens’ possession, many of the visitors here were movie stars. Torsten Kreuger’s brother, Ivar, had ownership in the Swedish movie company SF, and he got to know a number of both Swedish and international actors. He brought them to his brother’s palace when he wished to make a special impression.

Attributes

Room type

Dubbelrum

Room size

16 sqm

Bed

210 cm

Extra bed

No

Bathroom

One floor down

Toiletries

Malin + Goetz

Desk

Ja

Pets

Ja

View

Sea

WiFi

Of course

TV

32"

Gene Gauntier

Ever so famous silent film star Gene Gauntier loved visiting her sister, Marguerite Wenner-Gren, at her Swedish palace. This superior room with jacuzzi is dedicated to the charismatic star.

Not all siblings choose to have close, almost daily contact. However Marguerite Wenner-Gren and her sister, Gene Gautier, were practically inseparable (the reason why their urns are now resting side by side under the natural stone in front of the palace). Marguerite’s beloved older sister was a prominent American silent movie actress who started her career as a fearless stuntwoman (in her first movie part, she was thrown into a roaring river). She became a prominent name in the movie industry both for her acting, as well as for her many celebrated scripts and successful work as a director.

Gene had an amazing, notorious life, travelling to movie locations all over the world. She married the equally celebrated movie star Jack Clark in 1912, but the couple separated after only a few short years, in 1918. Gene got along very well with her brother-in-law Axel Wenner-Gren, and it was in part thanks to Gene’s liberal attitude that Axel and Marguerite could be intimate on the boat from America, despite being unmarried.

Attributes

Room type

Superior

Room size

23 sqm

Bed

210 cm

Extra bed

No

Shower

Yes

Jacuzzi

Yes

Toiletries

Malin+Goetz

Desk

No

WiFi

Free

TV

32"

Crystal chandelier

Yes

Pets

Yes

View

Dog cemetery

Photo Art

Gianni Villa

Les Vacances

Gianni Villa

Quand je serai..

Gianni Villa

La Finale

Gianni Villa

Sortie de bain

Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo was obsessed with all things round. So her dear friends, the Wenner-Gren couple, had a round room constructed just for her summer visit. We left the room exactly as it was when Greta stayed over in the 30's. Simply legendary.

Greta Garbo’s first acting job was in a commercial for the Swedish department store PUB, where she also worked as a shop assistant. How her professional career evolved after that is widely known: in 1954, Ms Garbo moved to the USA, where her career promptly took off and she emerged as the icon we know her as today. Amongst other achievements, the American Film Institute lists her as the fifth best actress of all time.

In 1931, Greta starred as a seductive and scantily clad spy in the movie Mata Hari, leaving the moralists horrified. Making matters more interesting, the real-life Ms Garbo was accused of being an actual informer who sold information about Axel Wenner-Gren, an alleged Nazi sympathizer, to the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6. Considering how much time Greta spent with the Wenner-Grens during the late 1930s and early 40s, she would have had plenty of opportunities to conduct a thorough investigation (but this is all just speculation and no results ever turned up to prove Greta spied). According to Axel’s personal dairies, the two often spoke in confidence, both on land and at sea.

The luxury yacht, Southern Cross, previously owned by the famous film producer Howard Hughes, was spacious enough for both the Wenner-Grens and many guests. In 1938, travelling home from the Bahamas, the Wenner-Grens stopped in Los Angeles to fetch Greta Garbo and her boyfriend at the time. The captain set course for the West Coast of Sweden, with a small tour around Alaska along the way. During the voyage, Greta’s boyfriend proposed, but when Axel asked if she was going to marry, Greta snapped: “Like hell I will!”

Greta stayed at Häringe – in a room made just for her – throughout thatentire summer. Via telegram from the yacht, Axel had ordered the roombe specially built. It has no right angles because Greta Garbo – a prima donna, indeed – did not like corners, and the silk that adorns much of the room’s interior was most likely hand woven in Venice and coloured with lead to create the unique starlit lustre. The Hollywood star also requested that fresh Japanese Camellias be placed in her washing water each morning, leaving the gardener with the tedious task of picking flowers from the garden at dusk throughout the duration of Ms Garbo’s visit.

Attributes

Room type

One of a kind...

Room size

19 sqm

Bed

90 cm

Extra bed

No

Bathroom

Right downstairs

Desk

Yes

Lavoir

Yes

Pets

Yes

View

Pool

TV

32''

WiFi

Of course

Josephine Baker

But of course a jazz singer and exotic dancer like Josephine Baker should get her own suite. Including an outdoor seating area, tile stove and a big bathroom with a jacuzzi.

When the jazz singer and exotic dancer Josephine Baker spent the night at Häringe, she ordered three egg whites up to her room, which she used as pomade for the sleek hairstyle that was in vogue at the time. Ms Baker, who had other eccentric oddities (she used to walk her leopard on Champs-Élysées), became famous for a dance routine that she performed wearing a skirt made from a string of bananas. The black, former vaudeville artist captivated audiences. After a show in Stockholm, one critic from Dagens Nyheter wrote that Josephine had “the world’s most expressive bottom.” Baker was also deeply involved in the American Civil Rights Movement, although she later lived in France until her death in 1975.

Josephine had many nicknames, one being “The Black Pearl”. Perhaps this was the reason why Marguerite – who loved her jewellery so much she once referred to the collection as “my little babies” in a magazine interview – was so fond of the innovative artist. Josephine Baker is one of Marguerite’s friends who can be found depicted on the wall border in the dressing room. Although rumour has it that Josephine might have actually visited the palace before she was invited by the Wenner-Grens (some believe she had a steamy romance with Ivar Kreuger).

Attributes

Room type

Suite

Room size

41 sqm

Bed

210 cm

Extra bed

Yes

Shower

Yes

Jacuzzi

Yes

Bathrobe & slippers

Yes

Toiletries

Malin + Goetz

Desk

Yes

WiFi

Free

TV

42"

Decorative tile stove

Yes

Pets

Yes

Patio

Yes

View

Sea

Photo Art

Franck Bohbot

Théâtre du Châtelet

Zarah Leander

Superstar Zarah Leander used to sleep over in this upper floor suite after lavish cocktail parties. The private balcony, sea view, jacuzzi and living room make it a perfect fit for primadonnas like Zarah.

Many primadonnas have slept in this building (Sea Wing) after extravagant parties or sporty weekends. One of them was the stubborn and tenacious Zarah Leander, who had a similar temperament to the former ruler of Häringe, Agneta Horn, whose father, Gustav Horn, erected this building to begin with. Ernst Rolf, the famous Swedish singer and revue actor, discovered 22-year-old Zarah when she approached him during a guest performance in Norrköping to tell him how talented she was. A couple of years later, this girl from the woods of Sweden – despite a few misfortunes and occasional detours – was a famous movie star in Germany. Zarah became so popular that during the Second World War, she was the highest paid actress in the Third Reich – a fact that annoyed the Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels, who would have preferred a pure, native German to hold the honoured position.

When Zarah Leander eventually returned to Sweden, she was welcomed with only a lukewarm reception. Many people were wary of her Nazi ties and distanced themselves from the starlet. The same happened to Axel Wenner-Gren after his attempts to help Hermann Göring solve Nazi conflicts with the British. Axel also wrote several letters to the US president, instructing him on how to act in the war. Some might say that Axel’s pompous personality had something do to with the way he was treated, but here at Häringe, he, Marguerite, Zarah, and Revue King Karl Gerhard enjoyed many good dinners together, without any consideration of all the public drama that had taken place in the palace over the centuries.

Attributes

Room type

Suite

Room size

41 sqm

Bed

210 cm

Extra bed

Yes

Shower

Yes

Jacuzzi

Yes

Bathroom

Yes

Toiletries

Malin + Goetz

Desk

Yes

WiFi

Free

TV

42"

Decorative tile oven

Yes

Pets

Yes

View

Sea

Balcony

Yes

Photo Art

Slim Aarons

Penthouse Pool

Slim Aarons

Lake Tahoe, Nevada

Family Suite

The Presidential Suite includes three rooms - Zarah Leander, Greta Garbo and Elizabeth Taylor. The rooms are connected by the Golden Leather Hall, with handmade gilded leather walls coverings. The hall is ideal for dinners, late night private parties or gatherings - a golden living room just for you!